Certain Foreign Nationals Will Become Work And Payroll Ready More Quickly

At a Glance

• Foreign nationals applying for a short-stay visa or for accredited-company temporary residence may now work in Costa Rica during the processing of their applications, due to a new rule published by the Costa Rican government. Previously, applicants had to wait until their short-term visas (which take approximately four to five weeks to process) or residence applications (which take approximately four to five months to process) were approved.
• Upon filing their immigration applications, foreign nationals are generally issued an application filing receipt, which will now provide sufficient evidence for eligible foreign nationals to begin work and for employers to enroll their workers in the local payroll.